American Muslim Storytellers

American Muslims should have a powerful voice,

Applications are closed but the crowdfunding campaign continues until March 30!

Since the early days of Trump’s campaign, the American Muslim narrative has been dominated by Islamophobia . It is critical for us to celebrate and uplift the diverse voices and narratives of Muslims living in our country.

Update: Stretch Goal: $50,000!

WOW! We are blown away by the response to this crowdfunding campaign. We keep getting messages from American Muslim filmmakers about how touched they are that people have come together in support and solidarity. We’ve also been featured in the Washington Post, Mic, and Huffington Post.

The Muslim Ban 2.0 is out, so we’re upping our goal to $50,000. The world needs more stories from the Muslim people in our country.

This new goal will allow us to give grants to more filmmakers and also put at least $10k into the Islamic Scholarship Fund’s yearly grant, which supports Muslim filmmakers in the long term.

The money raised through the Indiegogo campaign is administered by the Islamic Scholarship Fund and gives $1-4k each for videos that tell the American Muslim story in a way that humanizes and challenges negative portrayals of our community.

The Application is closed, but you can read more about the grant requirements here.

Film Grant Recipients

Sahar Jahani

Film: Grey MatterGrey Matter is a short film about an Iranian-American Muslim family in crisis and the choices they are forced to make in a moment of tragedy.

Li Lu

Film: A Town Called Victoria: Being Muslim in TexasWhen their local mosque is burned to the ground on the night of President Trump’s travel ban,the small town of Victoria, TX, defies expectations by rallying around their Muslim neighbors and showing the world what it truly means to be an American.

Muhammed Fazeel

Film: M PlusShowcasing the diversity of Muslims through similarities with the broader community.

Akram Shibly

Film: Behind the DoorAs the war in Syria rages on, a Syrian-American family living in the United States for a quarter of a century comes face to face with its refugees who are Waiting at the Door to peace, freedom and prosperity. From their vantage point Behind the Door, they re-discover the true meaning of home through heartbreak as the world struggles to give hope for their country folk.

Evan Carter

Film: The Voice Behind the CounterYemeni bodega owners shut down their stores on February 2nd to voice their vehement opposition to the Muslim Ban. The city’s bodegas enrich and give life to the NYC community, yet the story of the people behind the counter is rarely told.

Amir Safi

Film: American Muslim Video Cypher
American Muslims are diverse and our stories are complex. Recognizing that one voice or story cannot encapsulate this many people, our goal will be to host cyphers, where we invite Muslims from all over the country to come share their voices, going one after another sharing poetry and stories till our batteries die or we run out of people.

About this Project

After news of Trump’s Muslim ban reverberated across the nation, a group of American Muslims and allies came up with the idea of raising money to support American Muslim storytellers as a way to stand up to the anger and fear-based oppression this community is facing. A large community quickly rallied around the idea, partnering with the Islamic Scholarship Fund (ISF), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) which mission is to increase American Muslim representation in media and politics by empowering students through academic scholarships, film grants, congressional internships and youth workshops.

We hope that you can be involved in telling these stories.

Thanks to Michael Morgenstern for originating the idea, Somayeh Nikooei for executing the partnership so quickly, Chris London, Lynn Tao, and Joytika Jit for building the campaign, Rhym Guisse for the voiceover, and so many others for getting the word out and giving your support.